Mustang Sammy
by Lightning Streak
Summary: AU: The girl standing next to his car was cute, no wait: hot, Danny decided. Especially in that leather skirt…


_Disclaimer: Don't own DP._

_**Summary**: The girl standing next to his car was cute, no wait: **hot**, Danny decided. Especially in that leather skirt…_

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**Mustang Sammy**

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It was actually by pure chance that he met her.

Danny had just been minding his business that day (and this consisted mainly of devouring a bag of chips while hopelessly attempting to repair his broken-down truck) when he first saw _her. _

In the town dubbed Amity Park, there stood a high school the citizens called Casper High, and by said school, there was a parking lot, where Danny just so happened to be.

And, as anyone who was observant enough could see, Danny just so happened to be in the school parking lot _after_ hours. When everyone else had decided to leave for the weekend. When every normal person rejoiced in the fact that they could finally goof off.

It _was _Friday, after all.

Unfortunately though, the big guy that lived up the sky came to the absurd conclusion that Danny had not had his fair share of strife lately, and promptly destroyed the boy's transportation away from the _hellhole_ adults had the audacity to call an educational institution. The big guy's reasons for doing this? Danny had no idea.

Whatever the case however, it had left the Junior most definitely stranded.

Danny looked down at his silver watch to see it read 5:27 P.M, and sighed with a frustrated air. About the teen, a few engine parts were casually strewn aside in a manly attempt to find the heart of the problem, but to no avail. It was as if the dismembered engine was mocking him, really.

"Ah, _man_…" he trailed off with disappointment, speaking to no one except the air. "And here I promised Jazz I would be home as early as I could."

_Well**, that **promise just blew out the window… _

In reply to his statement, the wind twirled around him, ruffling his black bangs and baggy clothes with a playful dance. This, however merely convinced Danny that even the wind was laughing at him.

All that the boy really had to do was pull out his cell phone and call home for help, but for some unexplained reason, even his phone had died. Even his _phone_, that he himself had _recharged_ that morning, died on him. And just his luck, he couldn't go back into the school and use the pay phones, for the teachers had left the minute all the students were out of the building.

…Perhaps some would call it a biased opinion, but Danny was pretty sure that God didn't like him.

With another self-pitying sigh, the student continued his search for the truck's cure. The truck itself had actually started okay when he had first gotten into it that afternoon, and he was able to pull out of his designated parking spot. Sadly though, he only made it twenty feet before the truck sputtered out some God-awful screeching noise and quit.

From what he could tell, it hadn't overheated. Nor did the old lump of junk have loose sprockets or bearings. The engine was in a good condition, and the radiator wasn't leaking.

So what was wrong?

_…It's times like these that I wish Tucker was here… _

_And it would look really suspicious if I just left the thing here by itself…_

Danny knew that he could just turn ghost and leave his truck there for the time-being, but unfortunately more than one factor was against him. A.) His parents would be home and they would wonder how he had gotten home so fast. B.) Tucker, the person he really wanted to fix his truck, wasn't even home, and therefore it would cost money to get it fixed. And C? His own pride kept him from leaving the truck. After all, if he could rid Amity of all its ghosts, why couldn't he fix a simple problem on his car?

Danny turned to face the small toolbox he had brought earlier from out of the trunk. An assortment of wrenches, pliers, and other nuts and bolts were neatly laid in their respective compartments, just waiting to be used.

The problem with this picture?

Danny didn't even know where to start anymore.

_Maybe I should just take a break or… something…_He rubbed his temples. _I can't take much more of this… _

And so (following his philosophical breakthrough), he slid down to the pavement and rested the back of his head against the truck's grill. Danny thoughtfully popped a barbeque chip into his mouth every so often as he contemplated his next move.

He found himself almost in a comatose state, blankly staring ahead with only a white screen of ideas to keep him company. It was quite sad, in retrospect.

But then, what can a person do if they're all alone?

The junior blew the bangs out of his vision and closed his baby blue eyes, relaxing his muscles. It actually felt nice right then, to just relax for the first time that day. His hearing picked up the soothing hum of distant traffic, and the chirping of a few birds. Heck, even the sun, which was beginning to set, felt warm against his skin.

_Ah, yes…_he contemplated lazily. _You just can't beat the therapeutic sights and smells of a Friday evening… _

And somewhere off in the distance of the nearby highway, Danny heard the screeching sound of brakes, and a cringe worthy crash. Two blaring car alarms soon followed.

_…Then **again**…_

More frustrated than before (and angry that his attempt to calm down was mercilessly destroyed by traffic), the student stood back up with a growl. _Maybe I'd just be better off if I worked some more on the truck…_

Danny grabbed a wrench with his right hand and lifted one of the dismembered engine parts with the other. And, with the eightieth sigh that day, he began putting the engine back together.

Sometime later, for Danny wasn't keeping track of the time, he had managed to rebuild the part of the engine he had taken apart. He prided himself in knowing that he could fix the mess that he had put himself into, but yet he also realized that he still hadn't figured out what originally was wrong.

Considering for all the time he had wasted, Danny knew he hadn't gotten anything done.

And so, he began a more in-depth analysis of his truck's god-forsaken engine, with the hopes that maybe he could be home by 6:00.

However, Fate struck.

Danny had the hood of the truck up at that moment, and was currently re-analyzing the radiator when _it_ happened.

He had craned his neck in order to catch a sight of the setting sun, but instead of rainbow colored clouds and an orange sun, there was a pair of violet eyes curiously staring into his.

And in response to this, Danny reacted in a very sophisticated manner…

…not.

"Agh!" He jumped slightly, and he effectively slammed the back of his head against the hood of the truck. The wrench that was in his hand clattered to the asphalt.

Violet eyes widened at the spectacle.

Danny painfully cradled the back of his head and clutched the skin over his rapidly beating heart as he ducked out from underneath the hood._Ouch…that one **really** hurt…_

He softly hissed in pain as his fingers probed a forming bump on his head. It wasn't exactly the greatest feeling in the world, but it would have to wait._Now what in the world…?_

He lifted his gaze to rest it upon the girl that was now tentatively staring back at him. Her now concerned, but laughing violet eyes were set into a beautifully carved face framed by shoulder length hair of raven black. "Are…Are you okay?" she finally asked him.

"Uh, y-yeah! I'm…I'm fine!" Danny managed to stutter out, still slightly disoriented. "I'm perfectly fine!"

_God, I'm such an idiot…maybe I got brain damage or something… _

She chuckled a bit at his expense, and replied good-naturedly, "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I didn't mean to startle you," she added, shrugging out a casual apology. "It looks like you hit your head pretty bad, though."

His hand that he was using to rub the back of his head with hesitated thanks to her words. And almost like lightning, Danny dropped his hand back down. "Oh, it doesn't hurt that much," he replied in a manly attempt to shrug it off. "Just a bump."

The girl nodded, but her eyes shown with the intelligence that said, 'I don't believe you.' In any case though, she merely stated curiously, "So what are you doing here at this time of day? Didn't school get out a long time ago?"

At that, Danny raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't _I_ ask _you_ the same thing?"

The girl's pale shoulders shrugged indifferently once again. "Just came back to stick up a few posters up around school." She turned and pointed to the school's front entrance. He followed the direction of her finger, and found himself staring at a huge stack of "Save the frogs" posters. His confused gaze founded its way back to the girl's face, and she replied, "I'm against dissecting frogs in biology."

"…Oh."

_Well, **that **clears a few things up… _His biology class had been stalling the dissections for a while, but Danny hadn't been sure why. Now that he did, he began to wonder just how much will-power the girl in front of him had.

"So then," she finally asked again, "why are you still here?" Her gaze grew curious, and she stared over his shoulder to see the tools spread all over the truck's roof. "Is there something wrong with your engine?"

Figuring he had nothing to lose, Danny sighed. "Yeah, and I can't figure it out, either." Under his breath, he mumbled , "Stupid truck…"

Instantly, the girl's eyes brightened with curiosity and interest. "Can I take a look at it?"

Danny, having the reaction-times of a sloth, blinked at her proposition. Then it hit him; "You could fix it?" he asked hopefully.

"Maybe," was her quick reply as Danny stepped out of the way. She leaned over the truck's front and stuck her head under the hood. Her expert eyes began searching for the problem as she poked and prodded around, leaving Danny behind to watch her.

And as she looked at the engine, Danny looked at _her. _(Of course, it was sort of inevitable, really. This part in a plot never fails to show up.) And what could he say? He was a guy after all, and was unfortunately blessed with a small attention span.

The girl standing next to his car was cute…No wait: _hot_, Danny decided after a moment._Especially in that leather skirt…_

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he had a few questions about the girl. He'd never seen her around school before, so was she a new student or what? _What grade is she in? Do I have any classes with her? _

_…What's her name?_

He watched her take a few caps off the engine with a wrench, and then set the wrench back down. She continued on, checking things here and there and never once looking up.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he had a few questions about the girl. He'd never seen her around school before, so was she a new student or what? He watched her take a few caps off the engine with a wrench, and then set the wrench back down. She continued on, checking things here and there and never once looking up. 

A couple of minutes later, Danny heard a muffled, yet triumphant cry of, "Aha!" And instantly, his hopes perked up.

"Did you find the problem?"

"Yep," she said, ducking out from under the hood. She wiped her hands on her black (fake leather) skirt, undoubtedly smearing a good amount of grease on them. But by the look on her face, she neither noticed nor cared. "Your timing chain was off."

At that, Danny blinked. "…My timing chain?" he replied slowly _…What the heck's that? _

She shrugged an indifferent way, but gave him a knowing smile. "It's the metal chain that revolves around the crankshaft and the cam-shaft, you know?" Noticing the way the boy stared at her in confusion, her smile grew bigger. "Come over here," she waved at him, ducking under the hood, "I'll show you."

Trusting the girl, Danny ducked his head under the hood of the truck, and curiously stared at the engine. Unfortunately, Danny was not someone known for his love of cars, and instead, he turned his head to face the girl beside him. She was, after all, a lot easier on the eyes than an old engine.

Luckily though, she didn't notice.

"You have a V-8 engine," she explained simply, waving her hand in the general direction of the piece of junk. "So the timing chain is located at the front of the engine-" she pulled off a dusty piece of plastic "-right underneath a cover."

And in that moment, Danny saw what was wrong. A small metal chain (it reminded him of a bicycle chain) had fallen off a gear, and in turn had twisted to where it was pretty much useless.

"…Oh."

_Wow…I feel stupid. I spend over two hours on that damn engine, and she figures it out in two **minutes**?! _

But in any case, Danny figured that his ego-IQ couldn't drop any lower (and he wanted to hear her talk again), so he asked, "But why would just one little chain stop a whole car?"

At that, the girl tilted her head, and a small smile appeared on her lips.

She'd never met anyone who cared long enough to talk with her.

"Well," she paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "That's actually a pretty easy question." The girl continued speaking as she began fixing the chain. "Like I said before, the timing chain revolves around the crankshaft and the cam-shaft."

Her lithe fingers untwisted the timing chain, and expertly placed it back onto the two gears it was meant to run on, obviously having done this before. "Simplistically put," she explained, "the timing chain _times_ the exact movements of the intake and exhaust of gasoline. If it gets thrown off, or if the crankshaft and the cam get thrown out of sync with each other, then your entire engine is junk." She gave him a shrug. "That's probably why your truck wouldn't work."

With that said, a look of enlightenment filled Danny's expression. _Huh…Never would have guessed…_

Danny found himself staring at the girl, and couldn't help but flash his signature goofy smile. While he really had been listening, her voice was such a melody that the boy could have stood there all day and talked with her.

And yet it wasn't just her appearance or her voice that interested him. For the first time, he'd found someone he couldn't group in a stereo-type. She reminded him of a gothic-biker, per say… But then by the "save the frogs" she was posting up, he knew she couldn't have been that.

She was unique, unlike everyone he'd met.

And apparently, his smile was contagious, because Danny saw that she was smiling too.

"Thanks," he said, his tone genuine. "I appreciate it."

She shrugged again, but this time it wasn't indifferent; she seemed happier. "Hey, no problem," she replied easily. She stuck her hand out, and said, "The name's Sam."

Danny, following suit, shook her hand with his own. "Danny," he responded with his goofy smile. "Nice to meet you."

She chuckled a bit at the boy's happy personality, and returned with a, "Ditto."

It was a short moment of silence that followed, but it was rather comfortable, and neither of the two seemed to mind. In any case, however, Danny realized that it was getting late.

He looked down at his wrist watch, and barely suppressed a wince. 5:45 P.M, nearly two hours later than what he promised to be home at.

Jazz was gonna kill him.

He glanced back up at Sam and noticed her odd yet slightly concerned expression. Apparently, he hadn't hidden his wince as well as he thought.

"Uh, sorry, Sam," he apologized awkwardly. "But I've got to get going…I'm late as it is, you know?"

_And I personally would really not like to be murdered by my sister…_

Sam looked down at her own watch and saw the time. "Well, if you've been here since after school," she reasoned carefully, "I can see why you'd be in a hurry." She looked back up at Danny, noticing the apprehensive looks he threw towards his old truck.

"And my truck?" he asked anxiously.

"Should run perfectly fine," she assured him. Albeit reluctantly, she turned back to face the huge stack of posters she'd left carelessly lying beside her car. Despite the sleek and powerful design of the Mustang Convertible, it did nothing to protect the posters from flying away.

She sighed softly. "I suppose I should get back to hanging those up." A part of her didn't want to leave the boy behind, for he had seemed be a nice guy and a good friend, but she knew she had things to do.

_Damn…_The one time she wanted to talk to a fellow human being, and she didn't really have the time to.

Talk about irony.

Danny, meanwhile, took a quick glance at the setting sun, and realized he'd better get a step on it. "Well, thanks for the help," he told her again. "Maybe I'll see ya around sometime?"

Sam's lips curled up into a crooked smile. "Maybe…"

She helped him put all of his tools back in his truck, and then she locked the hood down as Danny climbed into the driver's seat. He gave her a quick wave as if to say, "See ya!" and she returned it with her own wave.

She actually wouldn't mind seeing him around.

Turning around, Sam reluctantly carried on, walking back over to her posters. A few had fallen off the pile, and had begun blowing away in the wind, but she figured she had more than enough anyway.

The old truck roared to life behind her, and she couldn't help but smile a bit in satisfaction.

Meanwhile, as Danny pulled out of his parking spot, he couldn't help but feel a little down. He never really got to repay Sam for her act of kindness, except for a small word of thanks. And despite how heart-felt that thanks was, a certain side of him wanted to help Sam somehow in order to actually repay her.

She didn't _have_ to have fixed his truck…er, timing chain thingy if she hadn't wanted to.

And so, as he pulled through his parking space, he stole a glance at Sam. She had lifted up a poster and begun taping it onto one of the school's windows.

He almost pulled past her…

…But then he stopped, and backed the truck back up. It was a simple idea, but a good one nonetheless.

He just hoped he didn't screw it up.

Danny rolled his window down, and called out, "Hey, Sam! You need help hanging up those posters?"

The girl turned around, a surprised expression on her features. _He's still here? _But as she lifted her hand to cover her eyes from the sun, she saw his hopeful eyes staring back at her. _He wants…to help me? _

She gave a shrug in his direction, but couldn't hide the bright smile that rose on her face. "Sure, if you want to," she called back, turning to smooth out the top corner of the poster.

Happily, Danny gave a bright smile, and killed the truck's engine. (He supposed that since no one else was weird enough to be in a school parking lot after hours that it didn't matter where he left his truck.) He hopped out of the seat and kicked the door shut with his foot.

He looked up at the sun, and then down at his watch, seeing that it was officially 5:50. Danny instantly realized that he was already hard-pressed for time, but his sense of responsibility had seemingly flown out of a stragetically-placed window. He wanted to talk more with Sam, and he'd already missed the time he promised to be home at by a long shot, anyway…

He looked back at Sam, and saw her wave him over.

…Eh, another fifteen minutes wouldn't hurt.

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_Hurrah! I finally finished! This is my little 'thank you' to everyone who puts up with my horrible updating record! I can't say that this story is the absolute best plot I've ever come up with, but I had a lot of fun typing it and I sure hope you had a lot of fun reading it. _

_As far as my other stories, I think I'm gonna try and update Chained by next Friday, and Desperado sometime this month. :) _

_Now, for the interrogation! _

**1.) Did this chapter have a generally good flow of words, or should I work more on my sentence structures? **

**2.) Are the characters interesting and, for the most part, still adding a fair share to the building of the plot?**

**3.) Are there any scenes or certain places in the chapter that seem out of place or slightly confusing? **

**4.) Are the characters' thoughts realistic, or too generic? Is there any way that I could improve on this? **

**5.) Was the ending too rushed, or did it provide good quality stop to a story? **

_This fic was inspired by the song "Mustang Sally." _

_Thanks for reading, _

_Lightning Streak_

**Please review!**


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